River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1887-01-06

layer of chaff about four inches thick
beneath and on all sides, and chaff
cushion is placed on the brood nest
As soon as the warm days in April
come / shall examine every hive,
taking out each frame and noting the
following points: First, the quantity
of bees; second. is there live queen;
third. is she laying; fourth, is there
honey enough to last until new honey
comes. IL there are plenty of bees,
all right; if not l shall proceed to put
bees in such hives. Bees brought from
any distance greater than one mile will
remain in hive, if they are kept
queenless twenty.fOur hours. The way
To put bees in hive so as TO avoid
having them killed. is to remove the
frames from the hives and shake the
bees in front of the hives, mixing them
by shaking some from the frames that
belong in the hive. And then some of
the bees you want TO introduce; then
some from the frames; and so on mix.
ing them all mp; ana using plenty Of
smoke. If there is no queen, you must
either get one or put the bees in hive
that has q iepn, Or g. them frame
OF unsealed brood, and they viii raise
their own queen. If the queen is not
laying L VIII find the reason and set
her to work Ii there is not honey
enough in the hive will feed extracted
honey or synIp made from granulated
sugar. In short, shall strive to have
all my colonies strong by the time the
white clover begins To blossom. At
that time | shall place sections on some
hives and begin extracting from others,
rs / intend raising both extracted and
comb honey next year.
We get most of our surplus honey
from white clover and Eastwood Last
year the bassWood did not yield much
honey on account of the July drouth,
but the white clover honey which be-
gan about the 18th of May, was good,
both in quality and quantity. We get
some honey later on from corn, and
then from buekwheat; but buckwheat
honey is dark colOred; has "A sharp
taste, and does not sell as well as white
clover or Eastwood honey. | have
here a sample of clover seed which
claims to be Alsike clover seed, but
from the description | should say it
was af alta clover seed. At any rate,
it produces well, makes splendid hay,
and yields immense quantities of hon
ey.
Thus far have said nothing of bee
stings, Pure italian or pure black bees
are the pleasantest to handle because
they are not so cross as the common
hybrid bee, which is miXine having
the same nature as mule, both being
crosses between two species of the
same general family.
Any person who attends to bees must
learn to go quietly among his bees and
handle his hives gently. There are two
very useful helps in preventing stings;
one is to wear bee vail and the other
is to use a smoker; both are inexpensive
and of great value. One thing is to
be borne in mind, never, under any
circumstances, expose honey or other
sweets 50 that the bees can get at them;
they will carry them home If there is
no honey to be gathered, and when
they have carried the exposed honey
home they viii begin prowling around
other hives; aud if IA weak or queenless
swarm is found it Will be robbed, and
when robbng begins it is hard to tell
where it will stop.
Some folks are so foolish as to place
combs partly filled with honey in front
of weak swarms, thereby intending to
feed them. The result invariably is
that all the bees in the neigh borhood
rush to the exposed honey and when
it is gone they go into the hives near
by and rob them.